Nottingham Forest legend Garry Birtles admits he sympathises with Middlesbrough's Patrick Bamford but is unsure whether he should be top of Aitor Karanka's January transfer wishlist.

The 24-year-old striker has spent much of the season on the Boro fringes and was linked with a return to boyhood club Forest following the Spaniard's appointment earlier this week.

Karanka, who spent three-and-a-half years on Teesside, is expected to enquire about the availability of a number of his former Boro players and Bamford is likely to be one player in particular who will attract Karanka's eye.

Bamford was twice signed by him at Boro, initially on loan, and enjoyed his best season under the ex-Real Madrid defender's wing - scoring 19 goals in 2014/15 to win the Championship Player of the Year crown.

But while Forest hero Birtles feels Bamford has been a tad unfortunate since leaving The City Ground in 2012, he also admits he would be cautious to see the versatile forward return this month.

"Patrick was at Forest before and he’s one player you feel sorry for him because the game seems to have passed him by a little bit," Birtles told the Nottingham Post.

"He was the next big thing at Chelsea, then he went out on loan everywhere and it hasn’t quite happened for him since.

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"I was doing Spanish football for television the other night, and like Bamford, I watched Bojan playing for Alaves. He burst on the scene at Barcelona and like Patrick, was tipped to be a big success and now he’s struggling.

"It’s not always a good thing to go back to your old club and bring people in, sometimes it can be of course, but I do think you have got to be careful.

“You’ve got to look at what you’ve got at your club at this moment in time and (Forest) have got a lot of quality in that squad.

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“The young lads have had a real taste for it. Don’t go overboard, but who am I to tell Aitor Karanka?

"He knows the players at Middlesbrough, he trusts them and it’s understandable that you’d go for players like that, because he will know their characters.”

Boro captain Grant Leadbitter, midfielder Adam Clayton and centre-back Daniel Ayala are also claimed to be on Karanka's wishlist this month.

Karanka is set to hold his first press conference as Forest manager later today ahead of Saturday's teatime duel with Aston Villa.